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Friday, July 11, 2014

Traveling Kitty - La entrada, Britania & Laswitan lagoon

Hey guise. Sup.
Yeap! la entrada britannia laswitan sounds like an old Spanish colonial word but they're actually must-visit spots in Mindanao. When you're here, you are visiting an agricultural place with mostly coconut and bananas, I'm not even kidding. If you travel around my hometown, you're gonna be in a coco-banana ride, and of course a lot of pomelo vendors, and that's the fun part because almost half of the population here sells fresh fruits in the corner of the highway; so I suggest you buy them at highway fruit markets than in malls because they're way cheaper and sweeter (I buy my pineapples across the street, sliced by the amazing pineapple slice masters! seriously! I'll take a video next time).

A long drive (as always) from Bislig City to Britania San Agustin, a 1 hour and 3-minute ride to our destination. It took us long because of the curvy lanes, road constructions and some truck traffic too, overall it was good since we traveled during the day. We were heading to La Entrada resort, a resort that offers affordable island hopping and room accommodation. Be prepared for an entrance fee before you enter the barangay though, but the resort entrance is free so don't worry.

La Entrada
La entrada is a really cool, chill place surrounded by mangroves. It may look like a crocodile might pop out of nowhere but no, la entrada is safe and there will be no croc popping. The water will rise eventually but not as much as getting you wet. If the water rises you will see tiny fishes swimming around and some hermit crabs. You will also smell something fishy literally but that's because you're on top of the water.

We rented the floating cottages or cabin, it looks like a tiny cabin. The rooms were pretty simple and comfortable, and like I said before, better put on mosquito repellent lotion and use the blanket when you sleep since they have air conditioning system in each room and below is a damp area thus you can't ignore mosquitoes.

A must-visit place, and they also have a restaurant with t.v. and wifi.

You can watch clips of Britania Islets in this video I made!

I took this with my Iphone, pretty neat huh?

When we got here the sky was looking furious like a storm about to come but don't fret! it was only a little rain.

As you can see it was low-tide. The Terrace and rooms.

This bed is only fit for one, but this is just the 1st level near the bath room.

The 2nd level is quite spacious and can accommodate 3 persons, and the air condition works pretty well. I didn't stay in this section though, I can't sleep when it's unnaturally cold.

So this is where I stayed, an extra bed in the 1st floor which was more comfortable and my boyfriend slept on the bed. I liked the wide matress more than falling off the bed lol. My mom and big bro slept upstairs.

There's always time for a gopro group shot! hehe.

Dinner at la entrada restaurant while watching PBA I think. The food was great, I ordered pinakbet and clam soup because I was feeling a little sick from eating mostly protein and less fiber.

After dinner, I stayed in the restaurant a bit and tried to connect through the internet, sometimes it really sucks, or it always does in the Philippines, wifi was so slow but a few minutes online was enough, then I went in our room to relax. Reminder: tell the desk attendant to reserve you a boat for the island hopping in the morning, they said the perfect time is 5 a.m. sharp thus the waves are flat and not crowded with people.

Britania Islets

The sun rose and we didn't make the 5 a.m. island shopping but we did... at 8 in the morning because we needed to fill up before doing something with no baon.

The weather was cooperating, good source of vitamin d, high-tide, a lil' wavy and we were really excited! We visited four islets but since we were limiting our time because we had to hit the road again, we only visited three. Doesn't matter, all were beautiful and never forgotten.

I can't forget the beauty of the places we went to but I forgot their names haha! The first islet was the farthest. The guide said we should take the farther ones before the nearest. Anyway it was gorgeous like most white sand beaches and tiny so you can explore the place.

More reasons to visit Britania.

Last group shot I took before leaving the island and hopping to the next one.

That's the first islet, and the second hop was supposed to be that bed of sand you see on the bottom picture, but my mom refused because the sand was almost identical as the first one (although it was only a tiny lump of sand lol). I would have enjoyed it but we were also limiting our time. I think it's called a shoal.

La entrada also offers island hopping to not just four islands but more, I bet every islet you can find here.

Arrived at the 2nd islet.

Definitely the number one reason to visit Britania islets is their clear and clean water.

This islet had a grotto, and some enormous rock formations (or corals).

Its fun! jump into the water but don't dive of course, this is only 4 feet under lol.

This was at the back of the grotto in a massive rock.

Another group shot with the other islets surrounding us.

A cute family of angelfishes, how did I know? I have a book about fishes in the coral reef. There were four of them, two were tiny and two were sort of like mom and dad. To see such life is an honor.

This one was more laidback, a lot of coconut trees - more shade and some marine life.

The most legit group shot we ever had lol. As you can see, there are seaweeds surrounding the shallow area, and the video I took of the school of fishes was around this tree, round-n-round they swam.

Ending the island trip with a kiss :* Yes that's extremely necessary for flings like us :P haha!

Back in La Entrada, high-tide at the mangroves.

Lunch, and if you noticed there were also a bunch of people in the restaurant, I think they're attorneys and doctors, the wealthy folks perhaps and held their lunch here with lechon and all that crabs.

Laswitan Lagoon

After lunch, packed up, and set to go road tripping again. This time the place is a hidden paradise, risky and far. Not many people would come or maybe a few during the holidays, but we went here by June and the whole area was deserted. The problem here was there are no arrows to point you the exact location of the lagoon because it's not a resort, it's a natural pool. You will see some signage when you reach Cortes but only a few. Somehow journeyingjames' blog says that it's in Barangay Madrelino which is 5 km. away from Cortes Poblacion. However since it wasn't the 'amihan' season, the waves were mostly a feet high thus it didn't create a natural waterfall as it is named Laswitan falls & lagoon, but the place was beautiful and serene and we were the only people who went there during that time.

By the way the road is so rough, I suggest that if you were driving lowriders then back off! lol. I think the best transportation here is a motorcycle or a 4-wheel drive.

Some of the most awesome rock formations I've seen here in Mindanao.

In one of my research, this place was supposed to be more natural without that rope dangling around it, but I think for safety reasons since people flock here now, they needed to do that.

When we got here, it wasn't actually scary. I think it's scary if we saw two men holding a knife. The place was so majestic; my fear about scary, risky, deserted places got totally erased out of my mind instead I cherish this place.

You can totally practice rock climbing skills here, I had fun climbing and looking for brilliant rocks.

Speaking of brilliant rocks, this is just a typical rock crystal 'milky quartz'. Yes I managed to mine some but only bits. It wasn't out of greed FYI, I just love collecting rocks especially this one which was formed naturally from gas and fluid

It's a little long way down to the lagoon, if you can walk through rocks which serves as stairs going down &up then better wear something comfortable for your feet that doesn't slip.

The only visible guardian when we got to this place. There were two of them, and as large as a 2 year old baby, I'm not joking! They're called ravens right? Beautiful creatures will last in my memory! (I didn't bring my 200mm lens fark!).

So we ended this journey with a raven watching us, guarding the area and actually their sound literally startled me. No, it's not even true when you see black creatures something bad's gonna happen. I saw this and I was like "fuck! they're huge!" and I smiled, life is beautiful friends... life is beautiful.

Alright! to sum it all up...

Considerations:

1. Make a reservation in La entrada first before going there, and ask them to check their appliances in your booked room like the air con (if it works well). This is the only contact no. I can find: +63 949 971 9630

2. Considering we went to Surigao del sur, they were having their Araw ng Surigao so you will see locals busy preparing fiesta necessities on the road.

3. Regarding the Araw ng Surigao, Laswitan lagoon was deserted I think because of the fiestas and some road construction; like I said we went here last June and June is the end of summer vacation in the Philippines.

4. Laswitan doesn't have a place to stay overnight so I suggest you wait for my next post about where to stay in Surigao del sur, road trip style.
5. Since Laswitan was completely deserted, especially the gate where you pay the fees (sorry Laswitan guise) we got inside for free. Why? a guy showed up and told us we can go inside without paying anything because no one was around.